Summer means going away on holiday for many. But if you’re in charge of MiFID II preparedness at your firm? Best make that holiday short. There’s now only seven months left to prepare, and all around the world our customers are kicking their preparations into high gear. One particular area of concern is getting ready for transaction reporting under the new rules.
To recap, those counterparties that are required to submit transaction reports under MiFID II must do so through an Approved Reporting Mechanism (ARM) or directly to the regulators. In the U.K., the Financial Conduct Authority has mandated that all transaction reports flow into its recently developed market data processor. ARMs and direct reporters alike need to establish technical links to the MDP, and should begin the onboarding process in July.
Most of our clients are choosing the ARMs route, so we’ve developed a lineup of relationships with some of the most active ARMs in the space. Eze Investment Suite workflow tools capture the required data points at the instrument, transaction, client and counterparty level and can interface with ARMs to export the data they need to help our clients facilitate compliance with MiFID II. We believe this approach gives our customers choice, and positions them to best take advantage of available resources to get through onboarding. As many of our customers are in the process of selecting their ARMs, we thought we’d give you a brief run-down of who we’ve already engaged with.
UnaVista (London Stock Exchange Group)
UnaVista is an approved reporting mechanism backed by the London Stock Exchange. The LSE created UnaVista Transaction reporting in 2010 with the help of major institutions. The group currently focuses on validating data to help transaction reporters avoid errors, and assists with analysis of over- and under-reporting. Its UAT is available for testing. We’ve recently joined UnaVista’s Partner Programme, and are looking forward to combining UnaVista’s ARM capabilities with our MiFID II data capture and workflow enhancements, as well as having access to the LSE’s training. Curious? Tune into our joint webinar on transaction reporting.
Trax
Trax has also been in the ARM business since MiFID I days. Since becoming an ARM in 2015 and launching the MiFID II Approved Publication Arrangement trade reporting validation engine, Trax oversees the complete reporting lifecycle. Backed by high-quality cross-asset class reference, data, Trax has built an enhanced service for the entire reporting workflow.
Abide
Abide Financial, part of NEX Group, has been a MiFID I ARM, and has applied to become both a MiFID II ARM and APA this year. It expects to become one of the largest ARMs by volume upon approval. It has also built a consolidated reporting platform that can help manage cross-asset and cross-jurisdiction regulatory reporting.
No matter your choice of ARM, the key for us is understanding your transaction reporting needs so that we can work with you and our ARM providers to ensure you are best positioned to achieve your goals. Our relationships enable access to the UAT environments of UnaVista, Trax and Abide. So please reach out, and do it soon – the MiFID II clock is ticking.
